Yutaka Kobayakawa is a character from Lucky Star whom is as every bit innocent and frail as her appearance would suggest. She suffers from a sickly constitution that forces illness upon her every so often, a misfortune that's resulted in her missing many days of school; had she not the love and support of her friends and family, especially her older sister Yui Narumi and best friend Minami Iwasaki, Yutaka probably would've given up on her life before it even began...
Yutaka is first seen moving into the Izumi residence to help with the commute to Ryōō High School due to her ill nature (she is in fact 15-16 years old despite her appearance). It is during this time when Yutaka started meeting new people in her life and gradually developed into a more cheerful person, and while she still gets sick every now and then she at least has friends she can rely on to help her in times of trouble. Despite receiving a lot of attention and pity for her sickly physique, Yutaka very much despises this trait of hers to the point where she is never seen taking advantage of it (unlike her cousin Konata), to which she essentially considering it to be akin to a curse if anything. Nonetheless, Yutaka manages to remain optimistic and cheerful despite her disadvantages, which combined together with her innocence give her a kind of under-elaborated fairy-tale perspective of the world. Yutaka ultimately wishes to be a taller, stronger person so she can do everything a normal person would be able to do...could the world of Smash be her chance to accomplish this?
★ ★ ★ Stats ★ ★ ★
Were we to consider that the end of the wonderful colored bar a statistical 10, one'd easily understand that all of Yutaka's stats are very, very low. Especially her weight, which puts her at a level even lower than Pichu's! With no real stat going for her, Yutaka is constantly imposed with a restrictive feel about her; most enemies in the game will easily outmaneuver her, and she slips and slides clumsily wherever she goes! Most unfortunate...even more unfortunate however is that Yutaka's weak set of stats isn't the only illness bogging her down...
★ ★ ★ Mechanic ★ ★ ★
Yutaka's sickly condition naturally forces a few liabilities on her that puts her on a lower level than most other characters. She'll play like a normal character when you first use her, but upon using the shield input Yutaka will project an extremely transparent-looking bubble around her that she hides in timidly...she very much has good reason to do this, as it takes one good hit for the shield to instantly shatter! Luckily Yutaka doesn't go flying off the screen like Jigglypuff would and her shield never shrinks (it fades to indicate the "shrinking" when held over time), but it's still horrifically weak, only having a mere 10HP that's only good for protection from weak blows...at the start of the match, that is. See, Yutaka wants to be a stronger person, so in order to do that she'll actually have to go out and break her oh-so-weak limits; in-game, this means that for every successful attack Yutaka lands (be it on an enemy, summon or breakable object), her shield will gain whatever damage she dealt as HP! Striking an enemy shield is even better for Yutaka's confidence; her shield will gain twice as much HP upon hitting one so her efforts aren't entirely wasted. There is no limit to how strong Yutaka's shield can be; just don't expect it to get too strong in the first place!
To go into a bit more depth about the shielding, 10HP is "normal" for Yutaka as is 70HP normal for another character so therefore Yutaka's shield loses 10HP at the same rate that a normal character's shield would break, so if Yutaka has a stronger shield it'll take much longer for it to break when held over time. This also counts for Yutaka's shield regeneration in that her shield will gain its 10HP back at the same rate it takes for a normal character's shield to do so; 1/8ths of the HP Yutaka gains from attacking enemies will regenerate after being lost, though it takes quite a while for this to occur and the HP isn't much so this isn't as great as you'd think it to be. You'll be able to tell if Yutaka's shield has high HP in a match if it has a darker hue than it started with, which is a good indication to tell players its effectiveness since nobody's going to be able to keep track just with the damage they're inflicting to enemies.
★ ★ ★ Specials ★ ★ ★
Neutral Special - Prevailing Persistence
A brief flash of red surrounds Yutaka's body as cute little puffs of air leave her all over. This will cause Yutaka's next attack, or the one she's in the middle of using, to produce a comical "pang" sound but more relevantly have its knockback doubled and inflict 2% more damage per hit. The move in itself consists of only one frame and can be used any number of times in a row to buff the same number of Yutaka's next attacks; you can even use it while shielding! Of course, you can't possibly get away with pushing Yutaka so far, can you? Whenever Yutaka would connect with a hit from the attack, she'll suffer a 1/3 chance of tripping flat on her face instead! Not the nicest thing in the world to go through, as Yutaka always trips in place and will be prone to her enemy's attack for a moment until she is able to use the invincibility frames that come with rolling away afterwards. Once you initiate a buff however you cannot cancel it, so be careful not to mindlessly lay it on all of Yutaka's moves...
But of course, Yutaka has a very high chance of tripping out of the buffed move anyway...good thing it doesn't waver her determination! Whenever Yutaka exit a prone state (tripping or being knocked down even outside the Neutral Special buff), she'll let out a cutesy grunt whilst flashing red and have her chances of tripping halved for the rest of her stock! Luckily this still occurs even if Yutaka is attacked while knocked down or trying to get up, but said situation isn't a good thing for Yutaka by any means. Still, all you have to do is attack the enemy in the first and you'll find Yutaka becoming "stronger" over time as she gradually becomes able to use the buff to its full extent...
Side Special - Poison Apple
The expression on Yutaka's face suddenly brightens up as she puts on an inspired look, an optimistic bout that allows her to soak up any damage she would take like it was nothing! After 15 seconds however, Yutaka will lose her cheerful composure and start to enter a kind of melancholy state from trying to push herself too far for her own good, which will come back to haunt her in fragments of 2% every second for 1.2X however much damage she would've taken (this cannot be dodged); this "poison damage" is represented by a dark cloud of sorts that follows Yutaka, and wholesomely prevents her from re-using this move for as long as it has damage to give off. In any case, this move essentially acts as a double-edged sword to Yutaka, but it's entirely worth it when enemies lose their ability to inflict progressive knockback on her for a moment, with you even being able to avoid the impending poison damage if you have enough shielding power to ward off it off - this of course requires you to go offensive, however. Still, enemies will likely try to attack Yutaka at the same time knowing that she'll take more damage in the end and said damage will prevent her from being able to tank damage with this move, but really, what's stopping them from simply knocking her off the stage since she's so light?
Up Special - Teetering Dependence
Little Yutaka's recovery isn't much to speak of - she reaches out above her in desperation, travelling only half the distance of Dark Dive before entering helpless! Still hopeful despite her predicament, Yutaka will continue to hold out her hand as she falls, which can grab onto ledges from surprisingly far albeit still realistically. Yutaka can also grab onto characters from behind and get a piggback ride from them! Attempt this at your own risk in a 1v1 however, as foes can easily knock her off with an attack that hits all around or behind them, though where Yutaka stations herself on them will depend on their physique - pony ride, anyone? It doesn't help that Yutaka cannot attack whilst on her ride (it takes a lot of effort for her to try and stay mounted, you know!), though thankfully she can get off her ride anytime by tapping right, left, down (which will transition into a walk/run/dash or crouch respectively on ground and make you fall in the air) or up to re-use the Up Special. Most foes will only have about 3 or so attacks in which they can use to try and knock you off, but what's interesting is that you can shield (and dodge) while mounted on them - Yutaka takes twice as much shield stun and shield push when attacked this way, but her ride will be pushed back along with her! Be aware that you need a lot of shield to keep this up however, and Yutaka has no means to gain any due to not being able to attack, along with having poison damage to deal with. Speaking of which, if the character Yutaka's mounted on puts up their shield while she's taking poison damage they'll take it for her - foes obviously won't be silly enough to do this unless they're masochistic, but you'll definitely get more volunteers in a Team Match. Helpful for you if they're able to get around the stage quickly!
As a bit of trivial information, Yutaka's position will change along with her ride if they change their bodily position in ways such as crouching or with U-air flip kicks, though she'll still be vulnerable to their attacks if they would hit behind them. Yutaka will automatically get off her ride if they trip or enter prone, but she'll remain on them if they're footstooled - she'll also remain on them even if they're grabbed or take knockback and will only take that attack's damage if the hitbox would be large enough to hit her as well. Also, although Yutaka cannot normally attack whilst mounted on her ride she can in fact use or throw items she was holding prior to mounting, but she cannot use them to attack her ride directly - she'll always raise her body a little when throwing it forward to ensure she doesn't hit her ride in the back (providing they're humanoid and not a pony or anything) and when throwing it downwards she'll lean over the front of them to toss it downwards in front of them. Just be aware that throwing items in either of these directions will make Yutaka vulnerable at the front for a moment.
Down Special - Tale of the Ice Princess
The title of a in-fiction story written by Yutaka herself in the manga that deals with an ill princess who becomes selfish and isolated from receiving too much pity. As you initiate the attack, Yutaka will brace herself with a mysterious icy aura which coincidentally erodes the dark aura visual of the Side Special and in fact causes Yutaka to take her poison damage at a third the standard rate - 2% every 3 seconds. This gives Yutaka sufficient time to move around and shield against her poison damage instead of having to constantly sit in place and wait for it...
Which is by all means a good thing, but things won't end well for a Yutaka who tries too hard to fight against her illness: simply using this move will increase the amount of poison damage Yutaka will take up to 1.6X its usual amount. That's just scratching the surface however; Yutaka's body gradually takes on an icy hue as her shield weakens, which only really makes itself apparent the very moment her shield breaks...the result? Yutaka is now frozen solid by her own disease. You may think this is actually better than being stunned since Yutaka can't be grabbed or budged in said state, but you'd be dead wrong to assume such a thing: while frozen, Yutaka has absolutely no way of avoiding the inevitable poison damage she'd take, and will remain frozen for twice as long as she'd be stunned for - and until she's taken every bit of poison damage she needs to. And to make matters worse, if Yutaka is hit by any attack that would KO her damage wise, she will instantly be sent flying off the screen out of her frozen state for an instant KO, even if the trajectory in which she would be sent flying would not actually warrant the foe a KO. This move doesn't really work for anything else other than holding off poison damage; using it without any will affect the next batch, though be careful as Yutaka cannot cancel the effect of this move until her current batch of poison damage has worn off.
★ ★ ★ Standards ★ ★ ★
Standard - Imperfect Persistence
Yutaka flails her arms all around her, as if doing so will bring her weak little self utmost security while you effortlessly hold down the A button! So cute! This pint-sized attack betrays her expectations however, as while it manages to inflict rapid hits of 1% in an area similar to the hitbox of Meta Knight's Standard, Yutaka's variation causes no knockback or flinching, though it does inflict hitstun that causes momentary "pauses" in the actions of struck enemies, similar to what happens when you attack Brawl Giga Bowser. For the most part however Yutaka will be completely defenseless to enemy attacks whilst hitting them, though her aimless flailing does actually help her in that she'll take no damage from any attack that would strike her, but she'll take double hitstun as compensation; if the damage was caused by a thrown item Yutaka's flailing will send it flying in a random direction, though it will still be registered as the item of whoever threw it and as such it will not harm the owner were it to by some incredibly slim chance hit them. This is a good way for Yutaka to avoid certain attacks that don't cause flinching and shrug off projectiles; you can even use this move to attack foes whilst playing "defensively" though the extra hitstun Yutaka would take will leave her open to a follow-up from the enemy's attack, so be careful if you do use this move for such a purpose.
And of course, you can choose to buff this move with the Neutral Special to massively increase the damage done, though there is a very high chance of tripping early on since the move hits so many times. On the other hand however Yutaka can be made to trip out of the buff if she were to hit a projectile with her flailing, which can be a safe method for tripping and getting up if enemies insist on spamming projectiles against Yutaka.
Dash - Frail Fury
What the!? It appears as if Yutaka's trying to ram into her enemy with all her might, thinking that running into them blindly at full speed will knock them down! This move has Yutaka comically flail her hands into the air whilst putting on a cute little face of panic as she goes into a determined sprint that sends her forward at the more impressive dashing speed that belongs to Ike before collapsing in place from fatigue after a Platform's voyage for horrifying ending lag that makes the more completely inappropriate for travelling purposes. If Yutaka hits an opponent during her sprint she'll end up knocking both them and herself back a little with downwards orientated knockback that'll most likely see the two characters knocked into their downed states as Yutaka takes a prickly 3% while her foe takes a head-hurting 15%! While Yutaka is indeed hurt by her own attack and will be even if her foe shields the attack, the bonuses she obtains more than makes up for that as not only is the damage output of the move very good but it also gives Yutaka the benefit of being able to obtain the anti-tripping bonus without interference from the enemy; the move also inflicts a surprisingly good amount of downwards knockback that can actually knock the players off the stage and KO at around 90% or so if they happen to be near the ledge - just be sure this doesn't happen to Yutaka!
The Neutral Special buffed version of the move naturally increases the damage output slightly and greatly increases the knockback to the point where both players will be knocked twice as far away from each other for extra spacing. Also, since Yutaka was technically running when attempting to use this attack, she'll end up flying forward a little upon tripping! This variation of the forced Neutral Special buff tripping is actually beneficial to Yutaka in that it puts her behind her enemy and generally keeps them safe from whatever attack they were likely to use on her, with she being able to get back up safely within a short time and get her bonus with little consequence...just be careful however, as it's entirely possible for Yutaka to trip off the stage if she's near the edge! If this happens she won't get her tripping bonus, and will be forced to recover at the enemy's mercy where they'll easily be able to gimp her. Still, that's kind of the risk that comes with trying to knock the enemy off the stage with the buffed Dash Attack, though thankfully this isn't too likely to happen compared to Yutaka's other multi-hitting attacks.
F-tilt - Pity Push
Yutaka leans forth whilst making a shoving attempt with her little hands! Aside from being very very cute to watch, this is an incredibly fast and angle-friendly move that pushes foes away with a third of the Bumper's effectiveness for some good spacing or even a possible KO method! That'd be HILARIOUS to pull off. But watch out; if Yutaka tries to shove a foe who's shielding or moving towards her she'll be the one pushed back instead! Not an entirely bad thing however, as Yutaka still gets her spacing and even has a chance of pulling off her godly recovery if pushed away far enough...just don't try shoving foes when your damage percentage is high or else you might end up pushing yourself off the stage! And really, you wouldn't want to do that to poor little Yutaka, would you?
The Neutral Special buff variation of this move simply doubles the distance a character is pushed back, which is great for the extra distance if you don't mind running the risk of tripping. In any case, this is really Yutaka's only one true spacing move for when she needs to transition into her shield when the poison damage starts to kick in since you don't really want the foe to be in your face after having assaulted them.
U-tilt - Sheltered Shove
What's short little Yutaka supposed to do in the face of enemies who are taller than her? For now, she throws her hands up into the air and stands on her tippy toes for surprising speed that rivals a Standard Attack providing you keep on using the move, otherwise she'll suffer a bit of ending lag via leaving the burdening stance. The thrust in itself doesn't actually inflict any damage, but rather barely pushes enemies above and right next to her upwards for half a SBB's distance, maybe a little bit more if they're a lightweight. In any case, the foe will likely use one of their attacks such as a D-air or N-air to counter Yutaka, which will end up hitting her raised hand and knocking her at a downward angle that'll most likely force her into her downed state; Yutaka won't actually take any damage from this attack right away, but will instead take it all as 1/4 damage the next time she would use an arm-based attack or grab, which'll see her suffer flinching after using the attack in question. Still, Yutaka will very likely be knocked down by the attack she would've been hit by to which she'll naturally gain her tripping resistance, plus this attack actually affects enemies if it would make contact with their shields to the point where if you're close enough to them you can actually interrupt a ground move they're planning to use and make them enter the air for a moment.
D-tilt - Sleep!
Anyone remember Pichu's crouch from melee? Yutaka's is something like that! To be more specific however, she gets down and lays on her side while facing the screen, snuggled up nice and cozy while cutesy Zs float out from her. The fight must have worn her out! This crouch lets her resist enemy knockback to some degree like a normal one would, but not by that much since she already has the liberty of being able to duck projectiles with the state the crouch leaves her in, as well as avoid being grabbed by most grabs and non-low hitting moves. Aside from being very, very cute to watch, the sleeping state of the crouch not only has the unique effect of removing any staleness from Yutaka's attacks after sleeping for at least one second, but also allows her to ignore any non-damaging stats effects (like say one that would slow her down or increase damage she takes) and even cure them after sleeping for 2 seconds in a row; you'll know this has happened when Yutaka is surrounded by the same healing visuals you see in Brawl, though at the cost of 10HP worth of shielding per effect if she has some to spare. Yutaka has to independent to some degree, you know!
Yutaka's actual D-tilt is very cute! She'll stretch out her limbs on both sides as if yawning for as long as you keep tapping A. Each tap only inflicts a mere 0.5% with no hitstun whatsoever, but gives foes a bit more ending lag on their attacks and doubles their chances of tripping; in the meantime the flailing of the limbs and all actually has a pretty good chance of stacking some decent damage on enemies since Yutaka won't be pushed back too far from her crouch, especially if you're daring enough to waste time combining this with the Side Special...enemies will have to use low attacks to hit you out of this however, so you probably won't end up taking too much damage. You can obviously Neutral Special buff this move, though if you do Yutaka will end up in her downed state instead of tripping for the same effect and all.
★ ★ ★ Smashes ★ ★ ★
F-Smash - Last Stand
Are those puffed-up cheeks and a cutesy scowl I see on Yutaka's little face!? Look's like somebody's gotten all fired up! Yutaka proceeds to run ahead at her dashing speed with her arms flailed out comically, an action she will continue to do until she tires out after having covered 0.5-2 Platforms worth of distance. For all the effort little Yutaka puts into it, this is one hell of an attack (or at least for what we expect from her!); foes caught in it are continuously swatted by tiny hits of 0.5% at a surprising rate of one hit every 0.025 seconds! (that's 40 hits per second, meaning you'll inflict 20% per second) On the other hand however, those individual hits inflict almost no hitstun to the point where foes will need to have well over 55% in order even start taking any. Still, it's well worth all the effort, as said hitstun allows Yutaka to push them along with her! Fun! This only gets better when you take into account that heavyweights will naturally be pushed more slowly than lightweights and thus will take more damage. Once Yutaka's tired out her foe is then knocked back at an angle that depends on how tall they are, with small characters being knocked upwards and taller characters being knocked downwards....do remember however that this IS Yutaka we're talking about, and that the knockback in itself will only ever start KOing at around 300%. Still, Yutaka will very likely drag her foe towards the edge of the stage and possibly knock them down at a low angle that could KO them earlier than you'd expect.
Nspec buffing this move lets Yutaka inflict that much-desired hitstun right away and inflict a TON of damage (100% in one second!!), though of course she's very, very likely to trip in the middle of one of those many many dozens of hits she's throwing out; if you haven't used the Get-up Attack at least a few times beforehand don't expect to get anywhere at all unless you're somehow REEEEEEALY lucky. On the other hand, foes will still take the knockback even if you trip in the middle of the attack so you don't have to worry too much about them attacking you afterwards.
U-Smash - Damsel Drive
One by one, Yutaka repeatedly throws her fists into the air at a 45 degree angle whilst barely facing the screen, where it appears that she's pouting over her smallness! The rate at which Yutaka throws her fists above her is comparable to Marth's Standard attack, but with one major exception over said move as well as all other Smash Attacks...said attacking animation IS the charging phase of the move. As such, this "attack" not only DOESN'T initiate the Neutral Special buff but it also causes Yutaka to naturally take 1.4X the damage and knockback of any enemy attack she's hit by when using it...heck, she'll even take more poison damage when charging this Smash and her others! But of course, if this "attack" has such high risks to it, then it must have good pay-off, right? Well for the most part, the "punches" that Yutaka throws out will generally hit in front of her and a very, very short distance above her, where they inflict a surprisingly decent 5% with some pretty good hitstun and a wee bit of pushback that's generally enough to keep enemies from attacking Yutaka while she's briefly pre-occupied with hitting on the other side, though if the enemy happened to somehow be foolish to be hit by the move whilst above Yutaka they'll end up being trapped in the hits for some good damage if they're wide enough! In any case however, Yutaka's attacking pattern is incredibly predictable and it can easily be out-ranged or out-prioritized by enemy attacks; then again, Yutaka could actually try releasing the attack...
Which has mixed consequences, to say the least. The animation at hand has Yutaka bring her fists close to her and tense them, which causes her to put all her shielding power into attacking! To put it simply, Yutaka will put 10-99.9% of her shield's current HP as damage for her very next attack that would connect with an enemy either physically or through their shield, though as a major drawback Yutaka will not gain this additional inflicted damage as HP for her shield; needless to say, this is an incredibly risky maneuver if you're planning on going all the way, though the affected move in question has a lot of potential to catch the enemy off-guard with it's additional damage or cause of a lot of shield damage if you had a lot of shield HP to invest into the move. If you don't want to use up all your precious shield however, you can use this attack in bursts at the start when you've only got 10HP on your shield which will regenerate over time anyway. That or if your enemy attacks you out of the charging phase Yutaka won't get the buff anyway, and will go flying pretty far...you could simply release the charge before they do that, but there is actually quite a bit of incentive to try and hit them with a punch from the charging phase since every bit of damage inflicted from there will be naturally be added to Yutaka shield but will also be added onto her next attack's power free of charge! I should take the time to note that since this move isn't really an "attack" Yutaka cannot simply re-use this move to inflict whatever damage with the first successful move on her enemy, though of course she plenty of other moves better suited to using the buff, especially ones that have KO power such as her F-Smash.
D-Smash - Brave Princess
Yutaka puts on a brave face and gets all excited, as if this'll be her last Smash Attack ever! Showing surprising stubbornness, Yutaka pushes herself to her very limits and her damage percentage right down to 0! There's a limit to how beneficial this kind of behavior can be however, as after 7-18 seconds Yutaka will start taking poison damage in the same vain as the Side Special! Unfortunately Yutaka can't use this move while her Side Special is active (and vice versa) or if she's taking poison damage so she'll have to wait until the poison damage wears off before she can use this move, which ultimately prevents it from being spammed.
With this move Yutaka won't actually have to worry about taking damage as much as she would've before; providing you don't take too much damage in the first place it's entirely possible to have Yutaka take it instead of trying to defend against it and simply heal it off with this move afterwards, whereby you can instead focus on attacking the enemy.
★ ★ ★ Aerials ★ ★ ★
N-air - New Resolve
Yutaka's frightened, but that won't allow her resolve to waver! She tenses up in preparation whilst wincing, an action that suddenly causes her to enter helpless! While she may be completely defenseless her aerial speed and ability to DI are in fact doubled in this state, and if she's attacked out of it she'll naturally have her jumps refreshed; from here she'll not only keep her improved aerial capabilities until she lands on ground but she'll also be able to re-use this move to improve them once more! No matter how great her aerial speed becomes however Yutaka won't fall any faster and she'll become greatly susceptible to being attacked or having her next move predicted if foes decide to let her hand...although you may or may not have the Side Special active during this time to prevent Yutaka from taking progressive knockback, do remember that Yutaka is still taking damage, and as such stacking this move too often can be quite inappropriate, even if it would allow Yutaka to glide away from enemies and onto another part of the stage and improve her aerial attacks...
The moment you land on ground after having used this move in the air at all however, Yutaka will find herself glowing with a small red aura that gives her slightly improved hitstun capabilities and the ability to flinch enemies with her attacks that otherwise wouldn't inflict any for twice as long as the N-air was activated for! While this effect is indeed good to the point where it can encourage players to jump into the air and use this move just to get the effect, do note that once the time's up Yutaka will in fact be plagued with the inability to produce hitstun, a rather nasty consequence she'll have to bear with until she's managed to hit her foe 4 times. So basically, the N-air as a whole is more or less designed for ground transitioning and allows Yutaka to flinch with moves that otherwise wouldn't do such a thing with her Standard, U-tilt, D-tilt and unbuffed F-Smash to make for a slightly deadlier Yutaka, though she'll be burdened with a rather difficult time afterwards regardless; note that Yutaka can still use the N-air for the aerial speed buff of the move, though if she'd land whilst being unable to produce hitstun she won't gain the buff. So basically, while this move can be used for escaping/offensive conveniences in the air, it is designed in such a way where Yutaka is generally forced to make the most of what she's given what with the buff and all as to not waste it; in other words, attack first, defend later.
F/B-air - Reckless Impulse
Yutaka turns to face the screen whilst flailing both her outstretched fists on each side of her for a serious case of cutesy carnage! The result is a multi-hitting move that lasts for twice as long as Yoshi's D-air and can inflict up to 3% on one side of Yutaka if all the individual hits connect! None of the hits cause flinching however, but that doesn't stop Yutaka from going all-out until she tires herself! She won't stop attacking for anything, not even if she would land on ground, be attacked or even grabbed by an enemy! This naturally makes the move quite versatile as an offensive, defensive or even an anti-grab move that makes enemies think twice before going all-out on you lest they want to take a good load of damage from your assault...greatly helped if you have the Side Special active during this time to lessen the knockback you take. On the other hand however, the move in itself can be massively punishing to Yutaka as it doesn't entirely stop enemies from actually punishing her good for a potential KO; be sure to keep that in mind and know exactly when to use this move.
This move can be buffed with the Neutral Special to have it potentially inflict up to 99% for an incredibly lethal dose of damage, though Yutaka is very unlikely to finish the actual move in the first place what with her chances of tripping out of the move - in this case she will be instead footstooled. This actually has the potential to save Yutaka from a combo, but if her enemy was on the ground it'll end up completely works against her since enemies can easily follow up with an attack of their own. In a similar vain to the F-Smash, this attack becomes massively threatening when Yutaka starts tripping less often, though she'll still need to be as careful as ever when using it.
U-air - Cute Climber
Yutaka won't let her foe get away with towering over her! She reaches out into the air in that cliche MYM fashion you all know and love, but instead of dragging enemies down to her level she quickly climbs over their mass and footstools them for 2%! A successful venture into the air can help Yutaka recover if the foe tried to gimp her get an edge over them if they're weak in the air - at best they won't try to chase you into the air and that means time to yourself. This aerial may seem almost impossible for Yutaka to pull off with her weak jumps, but it's actually easier than you'd think if you use it while planking or if an enemy is standing on a platform above you - offstage you might even be able to KO them! Using this through the Neutral Special buff will propel Yutaka slightly higher than usual if she succeeds and will "stun"/footstool enemies for slightly longer as well.
D-air - Questionable Descent
In a panic of some sort, Yutaka quickly yet erratically kicks downwards with both feet, which she manages to do 7 times in a row; this is somewhat comparable to Snake's D-air, though Yutaka lacks the range and falling speed of said man, which at the very least gives her a chance of stringing all the kicks together instead of just plummeting to the ground like a failure. Each hit inflicts 3% with slight upwards knockback that KO at 500%; you won't usually be able to get all the hits in, especially at higher damage percentages...unless the foe at hand is actually tall, in which it will be even more likely for them to take all the hits (serves them right too!). For the most part a successful strike will get the foe in the air, to which a use of the Neutral Special would serve quite well if that's what you want to do; unless you plan on recklessly following up with an U-air, this is a good way to get some breathing space in order to shield and since the foe will be in the air they won't actually be able to grab you (unless they have a MYM-esque grab-based D-air...).
This attack has a unique little quirk to it that activates if you use it above a grounded enemy, which will cause Yutaka to halt her falling and continue kicking on them like some crazy carnival attraction! This is not only an excellent way to inflict some much-needed shield damage, but also negates the rather rough landing lag that Yutaka would usually suffer if she landed on the ground while using this attack. Also, enemies will usually be knocked upwards by Yutaka's kicks, but if that doesn't happen they'll instead be knocked down! Definitely a nice break for little Yutaka, though it's an Easter Egg more than anything as heavyweights and fastfallers will usually be the only ones who won't get knocked up into the air at 0%.
★ ★ ★ Grab ★ ★ ★
With a determined look on her face, Yutaka reaches out with her tiny hands of cuteness! What she lacks in range is more than made up for with the momentary 4% flinch resistance she gets when trying to pull off the grab, but once she succeeds it'll quickly become apparent that she's the one struggling instead of her foe! You see, Yutaka doesn't actually hold her foe in place as much as she tries to hold herself in place, and thus her grab doesn't actually hold enemies - they're free to do whatever they want to Yutaka! This would normally be a terrible thing, but Yutaka has constant Super Amour to all her enemy's attacks through her sheer determination and grip, UNLESS the attack in question would instantly KO her with its knockback. If enemies can't do that however, they can try grabbing Yutaka, though she'll prove to put up a struggle for 2 seconds in which she'll be given some time to use her Pummel or Throws until the enemy grabs her or she manages to knock them away before then - otherwise dubbed as "Grab Struggle". If attacking Yutaka isn't to the foe's liking however, they can always jump, dash or roll away from Yutaka, which will simply cause her to lose her grip and end the grab with the tiniest bit of lag for Yutaka. Interestingly enough, Yutaka's grab lasts for however long enemies take to get out of your grip, and it actually works against enemies who can't normally be grabbed due to the nature of its execution.
And before it goes unmentioned, you won't have to worry about poison damage while Yutaka is grabbing a foe thanks to the sheer determination she shows at that point, though she will take whatever damage she avoided taking later on instead. It massively helps that a grab game can be transitioned out of shielding, which makes it entirely possible for Yutaka to be able to completely "avoid" taking poison damage whilst going offensive on her foe if she manages to successfully grab them.
Also, Yutaka can in fact buff the grab in itself with her Neutral Special (helps that she can do this out of her shield), which causes Yutaka to lunge forth a slight distance and have the speed and flinch resistance tripled; the only downside to this use of the buff is that Yutaka suffers an unusually large amount of ending lag if she whiffs the move, though the grab in itself is technically designed to be used against enemies trying to assault Yutaka's shield so that shouldn't happen often. Note that grabbing the foe in itself counts as a use the buff, so if you want to buff your Pummel and Throws you'll have to have used the buff multiple times in advance...something that's quite good to do since Yutaka will never trip out of her any of her Neutral Special buffed throws.
Pummel - Childish Pout
Frustrated by her opponent's tallness, Yutaka hammers her little fists into them! Each hit inflicts a small yet fast 1.1% that can really add up on its own and/or with the Neutral Special buff, though she'll only really be able to use it against enemies who are trying to attack or grab her since they could otherwise escape from her without any effort and waste her grabbing attempt; if Yutaka has the N-air buff active however her Pummel will in fact inflict enough hitstun to keep enemies trapped in your grab until your time runs out! Without said buff however you'll need to wait until the enemy tries to punish you beforehand, and then you can go all-out on them...just be careful they don't KO you in your blind fury!
F-throw - Little Yutaka Striker!
Looks like Yutaka's going for the big one! Wait....does she even have a big one? Regardless, she hesitantly holds an arm back whilst keeping her foe bound and unable to escape from her or dodge before attempting her best impression of the almighty PAWNCH! POW! While by no means a Falcon Punch, Yutaka still manages to inflict a fairly good 12% that'll KO her enemy at around 200%, to which they'll have no choice but to either take the damage or shield against it and risk giving Yutaka a load of HP for her shield, especially if she uses the obvious Neutral Special buff...
In any case however, Yutaka will find herself drained from all that effort she put into that one punch, and will start to take all her poison damage at a rapid rate of 0.05 seconds! This is obviously quite nasty for the most part since enemies may want to use the obvious opportunity to KO Yutaka, though said moment can actually be used to her advantage by either punishing enemies out of shielding via grabbing them and/or soaking all that poison damage with a strong shield; then, depending on whether she was successful on the latter or not, Yutaka can then transition to her Side Special or D-Smash to refresh herself and possibly start an assault on her enemy.
B-throw - Reasonable Retreat
Surprisingly enough, Yutaka actually turns around and dashes away from her enemy! This can be done out of a Grab Struggle when the enemy tries to grab you, though you're required to hold the control stick backwards and mash other buttons for one helluva tough grab escape! In any case, Yutaka appears to be panicked while dashing as seen via the numerous sweatdrops falling from her face that increase her attack and movement speed by 1.15X until she's attacked or trips; also, whenever Yutaka would perform a spotdodge or roll she'll end up tripping instead! This and the entire move in itself has its obvious up and downs to it, though its best used when you want to escape with the speed buff in order to transition into shielding or even try and daringly pull off the Up Special.
U-throw - Dynamic Consequences
Is your towering foe looking down on you? Then use this move! In a fit of cute rage, Yutaka actually tries to attempt the impossible and uppercut her foe! Does it work? Hell no! Or at least if your foe wasn't dumb enough to be hit by it since Yutaka not only suffers well over a second of lag but also forgets to hold her enemy in place much like her F-throw! But if this move actually hits by some miracle however, the foe will take a shockingly powerful 22% that knocks them upwards and can KO as early as 145%! That's of course, not taking the Neutral Special buff into account, nor does it consider the fact that foes might actually want to shield it....
In any case, if Yutaka actually managed to pull off that ridiculous move, she'll end up "gloating" on her small victory as her face lights up both figuratively and literally! This has the strange effect of doubling the duration of any afflictions Yutaka is currently under; in other words, not only will it double how long she's able to stay under the effects of her Side Special, D-Smash and N-air, but it also affects her rate of poison damage as well! Yes, enemies may actually allow themselves to be hit by Yutaka's uppercut in order to get her to take more damage despite she being able to get up to 50HP for her shield, though the obvious thing for them to do when Yutaka has her ridiculous Side Special is to avoid it, right? Well you see, if Yutaka doesn't succeed with the attack via being attacked/grabbed out of it or her enemy simply walking away from her, she will in fact become melancholic for a brief moment before attempting to put it and all her feelings aside quickly, which has the exact opposite effect of succeeding with the move in that it halves the duration of her afflictions! Hence not hitting enemies with this in the first place whilst Yutaka is taking poison damage can in fact be a good thing to some degree, though they'll be able to beat up on her in exchange, so use this if you've been afflicted with a great deal of poison. And to support the rather contradictory nature of this move, try using it when Yutaka is both afflicted with poison damage AND got her N-air buff active so enemies have no choice BUT to let her either inflict more histun on them for longer or let Yutaka take less poison damage for a win-win situation.
D-throw - Undeveloped Unpredictability!
Yutaka goes all red and puts on her cutesy angry face; this is an invitation for you to input any Standard or Smash input with a control stick input and Yutaka will perform the move in question under her grab conditions! Here she'll naturally gaining Super Amour and Grab Struggle for said move like she would for her other throws, though she'll still be able to trip out of said move in the middle of the "throw" if she used the Neutral Special buff on it. The moves that are available to be used however are weaker than Yutaka's F-throw, and even her almighty F-Smash can be escaped by enemies through a simple movement gesture...except if they try to do just that Yutaka will suddenly cancel the move she was going to use and pout in place from not being given a chance to attack! This may seem like a cute little aesthetic, but it's actually much more; you see, Yutaka's face constantly be red and she'll exert small puffs of air from her face for further aesthetics, which indicate that Yutaka's grab has been replaced with the move she was going to use under her grab bonuses! This means Yutaka will have Super Amour and Grab Struggle when performing the attack in question, as well as momentary immunity to poison damage; she can even use the designated move of her Dash or Shield! The latter is excellent for countering enemies who are trying to bring down your shield while you're trying to deal with poison damage, though do note that you only get one shot at using the buffed move before Yutaka gets her normal grab back. Note that if Yutaka would use a charging move like her F-Smash as her designated move she'll still have to charge it by holding the Z button, but otherwise the move remains the same as usual. Also, if she designate a continuous move such as her Standard or D-tilt she will only use it for a maximum of 3 seconds before stopping as to prevent cases of "permanent" Super Amour.
Also, fun fact: throws generally bypass flinch resistance (Super Amour of the sorts) and grant their users 8 invincibility frames when first used, a factor that allows Yutaka to use her pseudo-grab move as a spotdodge of sorts it actually counts as a throw; very convenient for countering grabs or attacks that would otherwise break your shield. Note that if Yutaka would use the F-Smash she will gain the invincibility frames upon using the attack rather than when she first charges it.
★ ★ ★ Tips for Playing as Yutaka ★ ★ ★
Brawl is a dirty little world where competitors leave their compassion and dignity at home, and instead relish in any opportunity they can in order to win the match at hand. Yutaka is a different case however; she's only known honesty and innocence through her involuntarily sheltered life to the point where such is all she knows on the battlefield. Yutaka has no elaborate schemes in mind, no tricky combos which would win her the match in a flash, or even any long-distance moves for that matter of fact! This makes her rather easy to pick up and use, though it doesn't change the fact that she's incredibly weak. Almost anyone would tell you to just pick another character...
But if you did go ahead and pick Yutaka however, I would very much assume you did so for fun; she does have a great number of cute quirks about her which blow Pichu's out of the water in terms of cuteness (of course!), and you don't really have to worry about pride or anything if you lose with her since she's not strong canon-wise (though you do feel sorry for her afterwards!). If you didn't choose her for that however, you probably did so as a "challenge" in which you'd feel good about yourself for accomplishing, or even maybe as a handicap against a rookie player like your little sibling...
Whatever the case, the only real thing going for Yutaka is her strong will to stay alive in the form of her damage-controlling Side Special and D-Smash. These 2 moves allow Yutaka to stay alive for much longer than her minuscule weight would suggest, though they both have the side effect of plaguing her with variable poison damage; the idea is for Yutaka to empower her initially weak shield so it can soak up all the poison damage she would take and thus allows her to "overcome her illnesses". Problem is though, in order for Yutaka to strengthen her shield she'll actually need to land some successful attacks on her foe! This means having to put up with some of the worst stats in the game, no projectile usage and essentially having no real usable shield to start off with, though at they very least Yutaka has a good crouch she can use to duck under most projectiles or simply swat at them with her Standard; if you're facing a more developed camper however you'll only have the very basics as your best, though it really depends on what kind of enemy you're facing.
When you do finally get to attacking, or find yourself attacked in the first place, you'll probably want to activate the Side Special to absorb the damage and overall drastically reduce the knockback Yutaka would take. But of course, doing this means trying to get in as much damage as possible on the enemy, as they'll try to do the same to you to prolong your eventual poisoned state; the F/B-air is generally a good approaching move as well as the D-air, with the former being quite consequential to enemies who try to attack Yutaka out of it. On the ground however you can use the reckless yet extremely rewarding Dash Attack if you're willing to take obligatory damage in the process. Yutaka's grab game is also an excellent way to make use of the time she has for her Side Special in order to rack up some damage and/or manipulate her poison damage; the Super Amour factor that comes with this works hand-in-hand with the damage resistance of said move, with Yutaka being able to wail on enemies with her Pummel, deal a solid amount of damage with her F-throw or even use the D-throw to transition to her F-Smash! For the most part though, you can expect enemies to try and escape your grasp by moving away from you to waste your grab, which is exactly why you'll want to use the above moves: if enemies try to escape your grasp, Yutaka will use the move in question as a substitute for her grab game, which transitions perfectly from her shield when the time comes for her to use it for poison damage warding - counter your enemy's attempts of attacking you with a F-Smash or F-tilt of the such, and with good timing you can really get the jump on them!
When it comes to shielding, doing so will only be effective if Yutaka was able to attack her opponent consistently; if she wasn't able to do so she'll have to put up with the damage she would take and try to look for an opening to hopefully turn the match around. This can be done by simply playing defensively with moves such as the F-tilt and U-air to space from your enemies and pester their camping efforts via the crouch and Standard in order to make them approach you, where you can try and grab them and pull off a F-throw...if you try this however, you'll have to be very lucky and pull it off quickly to prevent your damage percentage from rising to a level where the enemy can pull off a fast KO move on you from close-up, though if you succeed you can then play cat-and-mouse with them to try and pull off an eventual D-Smash to get yourself back into shape for a moment. It's all very risky stuff, and Yutaka has no easy way out of it all when her foe is free to knock her away and she has a terrible recovery.
Yutaka's game really to boils down to attacking her enemy as much as possible when she has the best opportunities to...not the most exciting playstyle, nor the most intricate, but it's what Yutaka needs to do, and she's only human. What I haven't mentioned up until now however is Yutaka's Neutral Special buffing move: it's designed to give Yutaka's moves a lot of extra power at the cost of generally making her trip out of them, which'll leave her prone to enemy attack during most attacking attempts and situations. Tripping in the first place will of course leave Yutaka less likely to trip when attempting to use said move in the future, though note that you don't have to use Neutral Special buff in the first place just to trip over or even be knocked down for such matter; if Yutaka is tripped or knocked down by an enemy attack, or from one of her own moves such as her Dash Attack, she'll still gain tripping resistance...you and your opponent might not end up keeping how many times you've tripped in mind, but once you've gained enough tripping resistance you could easily transition into one of Yutaka's powerful moves such as her F-Smash and get the jump on the enemy! Said move is essentially Yutaka's goal to pull off in a match and essentially signifies her success as having become a strong person...she'll be inflicting absolutely ludicrous amounts of damage with said move to the point where she'd easily be able to KO most characters in one shot with said move; this doesn't even take into account the fact that Yutaka will have gained astronomically high amounts of HP for her shield out of the one attack, and double that amount if her foe decided to shield against her barrage! It'll be a win-win situation for Yutaka either way, as she'll have so much shielding power she'll now be able to heal and shrug off damage as she pleases with her Side Special and D-Smash, or simply block enemy attacks and counter with her grab-game. Once Yutaka's pulled off a successful F-Smash buff, she'll have truly become a forced to be reckoned with...just don't let her be KO'ed or she'll lose it all! For all her crippling weaknesses, the element of surprise that can come with an unexpected buffed F-Smash is actually one of Yutaka's biggest strengths in that she can in fact end up inflicting more damage on her enemies than they'd actually expect in the first place.
All that said however, do remember that Yutaka is in fact weak, and she doesn't really have much of a chance of winning in the first place; as I said before, her moves are not incredibly lacking in range and priority, but also require her to use her own body to attack for all her moves, so she's in fact quite a good deal weaker than I made her out to be! Sure, she has her Side Special and D-Smash as handicaps, and she can inflict ridiculous amounts of damage given time, but all and all she starts off with a weak shield, is incredibly light, and worst of all needs to rely on close-range which will see her getting screwed over by characters who are competent in that area in terms of speed and/or power. The only time a match with Yutaka will ever go by quickly will be in the foe's favor, as Yutaka is only able to win her matches slowly but unsurely. Still, she can be a rather fun character to use, especially aesthetically speaking, and if you win with her it'd feel pretty darn good, would it not?
★ ★ ★ Team Playstyle ★ ★ ★
The above playstyle section assumes you were using Yutaka in a 1v1 match...now let's see what she can do in a Team Match!...or maybe not. She wouldn't be very helpful in said situation, now would she? But really, isn't her presence alone more than enough to support her trust ally for the win? Yes? No? Okay, seems I'm missing something if I'm not getting your support here...oh, that's right, Yutaka actually has
ANOTHER MECHANIC! You know how she said at the start of the set that she got sick often? She wasn't kidding...but how do we translate sickness into Brawl, you may be asking? Well, how about that good old state of stun! It's a state that players will rarely succumb to in that they need their shields to be broken most of the time (which few are stupid enough to actually let happen), but when they do the others will almost always exploit it for the finishing blow...yet when it comes to frail little Yutaka, being stunned means being pitied! Wait, what!? Indeed, this is a fighting game; there is no place for the likes of emotion and irrationality...but what if said traits proved rewarding to those who embraced them?
Regardless of whether they be friend or foe, anyone who takes up the job of protecting Yutaka while she's all stunned and helpless will receive certain benefits based on how they protected her. The first way to protect Yutaka is to heal her, which rewards the protector with the same amount of healing, and/or 7% for every negative effect healed off. Not every character has healing moves however, to which they may want to embrace the second method of literally shielding Yutaka from incoming attacks such as projectiles, an act which not only halves the damage her protector's shield takes but also prevents them from being pushed back - this actually works with Yutaka's poison damage if she was mounted onto her savoir with her Up Special, an excellent move for Team Matches. The third and final way to protect Yutaka is to knock any nearby or approaching enemies away from her, which increases the damage and knockback output of the protector's attacks by 1.1 for every successful hit they land. If one manages to protect Yutaka until the very end they'll receive a special reward based on which criteria was met; 0.5X the amount Yutaka was healed, a completely rejuvenated shield that'll won't take damage or pushback for 18 seconds or double the damage/knockback buff they gained from protecting Yutaka for the rest of their stock. And before you question how the hell it makes sense for a character to be magically healed or get stronger just by protecting a little girl,
I am making a statement about the inherent good of every living being and the pretense, a facade of selfishness that gets torn down as soon as a opportunity to help another presents itself.
One must take care not to mistake the state of illness for something Yutaka would actually want to use in a match, since you know, you actually want Yutaka to be a healthy girl, not a sick one! It's not really a case of this mechanic being entirely absent in 1v1 matches as it is entirely irrelevant...THE only way you're ever going to be able to initiate it is if Fiends or Stage Hazards are involved, or the rare case where Yutaka happens to be going up against a character with a self-hazardous mechanic such as Tutankoopa or Lucio Fulci - yes, it's entirely possible for Yutaka to actually get a piggyback ride on those minions with her Up Special and make it impossible for them to attack her! (that is, assuming they have no moves that would hit her from behind) In FFAs, enemies are capable of exploiting Yutaka's sickness for their own benefits, which is kinda good for Yutaka since it lets her live for longer from her enemies' "pity" of her, but really, she doesn't like being treated like a little kid! In this case foes might actually WANT Yutaka to hitch a ride on their backs with her Up Special so they can get a plethora of buffs as they attack enemies and use their shield to protect her from her own poison damage - they'll only take half of it and will make it more difficult for the other foes to break their shield.
And while we're on the topic, I should warn you that Yutaka obviously has a much higher chance of being stunned than other characters since her shield is not only pitifully weak but is also used by her in warding off the illness that is her poison damage, which she obviously has to trigger with her Side Special and D-Smash moves in the first place to actually stand a chance at staying alive. Relevancy wise, there's only the Down Special, which has the effect of doubling the bonuses any character gets from the pity mechanic...yes, you as the Yutaka player, could actually go as far as to deliberately break her fragile shield just to exploit her mechanic! But of course, that'd be stupid both gameplay and character-wise, but then again it's the player doing this and if they think it's such a great tactic to win, then fine...but really, it's usually much better if Yutaka is actually active in a match, because she'll be able to help her allies with her Up Special to get a piggyback ride on them, where she can protect them from behind with her shield if it's strong enough - your ally will be able to protect your shield from poison damage with their own shield of which will be far less consequential for them.
Because of the buffs which Yutaka can "give" to her ally while she's mounted on them, it's entirely possible to have her do nothing for the entire match and just have the ally fight with slightly improved stats. Yutaka won't take any damage this way, but this is silly as she's a character who develops during her stock and leaving her all sheltered will leave her helpless since she won't have any buffed shield or attacks to use when push comes to shove. Be sure the ally is there to support Yutaka at the same time however: she'll get knocked away with extreme ease due to her light frame, but she's easy for aerial-efficient characters to save as they can just jump backwards and have Yutaka use her Up Special to get on their backs. This form of maneuverability is helpful when both characters want to travel to once place together due to Yutaka having terrible movement stats, and when she's developed a powerful shield from attacking her enemies Yutaka can use it to protect a good portion of her ally's body, even if they're in the air - you'll have to be careful of being pushed by attacks this way however, and Yutaka's shield is not so large that it'll be able to fully cover the body of her ally.
Yutaka may seem like a burden in a Team Match, but she can be played in different ways in tandem with her ally despite not being able to directly support them with the likes or projectiles, traps or reliable moves. She can be fun to have as a "challenge" where you can pretend you're the only one fighting due to she being extremely underpowered and use her as an "equip" with her team mechanic and Up Special to get a piggyback ride. Yutaka can be a very useful ally to certain characters who can cover for her weaknesses however and whom have a good amount of resources, along with being very fast and having a good air game to save her with when she gets knocked off the stage. It doesn't have to be a character who has good KO power, since Yutaka herself can score the KOs once she's all fired up; she'll technically be the one attacking since that's all she needs to do - all she really needs in the end is for someone to constantly have her back, and she'll go far. Witness the power of friendship!
★ ★ ★ True Final Smash ★ ★ ★
Maturity
Whoa! What with that name and all, I bet you're really hyped for this one! You should be too, cause so is Yutaka! As if wishing upon a lucky star, Yutaka closes her eyes and clasps her hands, almost in a kind of prayer. Mystifying sparkles of sorts slowly travel towards her and into her body, which in itself begins to take on the very same glowing hue...then, suddenly, Yutaka starts to grow in both a metaphorical and literal aspect! Those short little twin-tails of hers grow until they reach all the way down to waist level, her body becomes more slender as it grows until reaching about....165cm or so, but most important of all.....M.U.N.E! Those tiny little breasts have become nice and visible! Ah, but don't worry, that sailor outfit, or whatever alt costume you put on Yutaka, has magically grown to accommodate all the physical changes. Perhaps most important of all however is Yutaka actually has a, Haruhi forbid, constantly mature look on her face that greatly difernates from that of her cheerful albeit timid one. And thus, with a stylish twirl that is obligatory for magical girls of all sorts, Yutaka readies herself for what she needs to and can finally accomplish once and for all!
The very instant you take control of this brand new Yutaka, you'll notice that she moves around much faster than the old one did; kinda like an elegant version or Mr. Manly Falcon if you really want the specifics. And while she's still fairly light she's nowhere as light as she was before, she having gained the weight of maturity upon her! Too add, she also has the same shield a normal character would!
When you try attacking as this brand new Yutaka, you'll notice that she has greater reach in her attacks than before, and instead attacks with a simple elegant wave of her arm that actually inflicts normal damage for whatever was expected for that input! She also has a normal grab with normal throws that kill at normal damage percentages and what not. Okay, maybe I'm under-elaborating things here, or maybe you want to know about the Specials...well, Yutaka doesn't suffer any downsides from her buffs, but that's pretty much all. Her Up Special also does similar damage to Charizard's Fly as she hits her enemy with a comical slap of sorts - hilarious stuff.
And of course, from everything you've just read, you should know that by no means does this Final Smash have the same "overpowered" feel of your typical Final Smash; Yutaka just wants to know what it feels like to be an ordinary person. On the other hand, this Final Smash lasts until Yutaka is KO'ed or she, for whatever crazy reason, would actually want to go back to being her weak little self, which she can do by obtaining the Smash Ball again.
[COLLAPSE="Extra Awesome Extras"] ★ ★ ★ Extras ★ ★ ★
Animations
Yutaka's animations are cute and quirky, but that's only to be expected of her! She unfortunately doesn't have any magic-syndrome induced flashy openings to appear onstage; rather, she's already on the stage and will look around nervously while saying "Oh no! I'm so tiny!"...but hey, she has every right to say that when MYM has such giganto monsters prowling about. Perhaps most unfortunate is that you probably won't hear Yutaka say this in practice because of the stupid announcer's countdown, just like nobody hears Snake say "Kept you waiting, huh?" at the start of every match in Brawl! He REALLY needs to speak up, but Yutaka's not afraid to express how she feels with the full power of Hynden Walch's voice!
Yutaka will exhibit similar behavior to Pichu when standing still in that she will constantly don a cheerful face whilst looking around her whilst fidgeting with her hands, but sometimes she'll be overwhelmed by the rest of Brawl's taller cast and make this face for a moment; you probably won't be able to see it all that clearly unless you pause the game however, but hey, face expressions are a staple in anime!
When made to walk, Yutaka will break into a casual stroll that sees her swaying her arms back and forth ever so slightly, but not in such a manner that it's forced or anything. Running will have her pick up the pace as Yutaka turns her head right and left as if looking for something. As for Yutaka's Dash, it is similar to Zelda's in that Yutaka goes into a sprint whilst leaving her palms open and her arms un-raised for a feminine touch, except Yutaka is very clearly struggling to do so based on her face expression, even more so than Ganondorf!
Yutaka's jump has her squat for a moment before excitedly leaping into the air with all her might, indicated by her two hands raised above her reaching out at the same time. Her second jump proves to be a struggle on her part aesthetically speaking, as Yutaka will put on such a face whilst flailing her arms around her and kicking down below her in such a manner that it almost looks like she's gaining aerial ascension just by doing so! Funny enough, said animation is almost identical to that of Yutaka's F/B-air move, with the only real difference being that Yutaka will have her hands curled up into fists when using said move, and she won't kick out of it unless she used it in the middle of her second jump; to further distinguish the animations however, Yutaka will grunt when performing the aforementioned attack, and her swinging will have a comical sound effect to it just like the rest of Yutaka's other attacks - I could have mentioned that detail beforehand, but that would have been too much to absorb along with the rest of the set, right?
The final animation in terms of relevancy belongs to Yutaka's dodges, with the usual spotdodge and the air dodge consisting of Yutaka leaning into the background whilst breaking into a sweatdrop-inducing panic in what appears to be an accidental dodge, aesthetically speaking. In the meantime, Yutaka's roll dodges have her hop back or forth in a similar kind of panic, of which naturally gives her a surprisingly fast roll, though it only covers a surprisingly small distance of a character width; do remember however that Yutaka will be using her shield often, and that of all the animations listed here this one actually has relevance - having a fast roll dodge is good since enemies won't be able to punish Yutaka out of it, and the small space can actually be beneficial in Team Matches when you want to be close to your ally or even get behind the enemy and attack them quickly with the shield's great speed and small distance, though at the same time the shield can and will work against Yutaka if her enemy has moves with good distance and or can predict where she'll appear and easily catch up to her.
Taunts
Like every character who has them slapped onto their moveset, Yutaka has 3 taunts which aren't so much as taunts as they are inputs that you'll want to use!
The U-taunt has Yutaka comically cry in place as watery tears gush down from her face...both cute and funny at the same time! Yutaka obviously cries out rather loud crying noises when doing this, so you can use this taunt to annoy the crap outta the enemy or massively troll them, whatever you want to do.
Yutaka's Side Taunt has her stylishly spin in place on one foot before making the equally stylish pose above her as a small yellow star appears in front of her head for anime-cosmetic effect. Yutaka looks both embarrassed and nervous after pulling off the pseudo-dance move however, as she hastily gets back into her regular stance shortly afterwards! This is the same pose 8 of Lucky Star's 10 main girls do on the front of their Image Songs, to which this taunt pays tribute to, which in turn payed tribute to the awesome Hare Hare Yukai mock dance opening.
Yutaka's Down Taunt has her put in a bit more spice however; this one'll see her make an angry scowl whilst saying "Stop treating me like a little kid!", which is awesome, because she actually says something! And really, I'd probably use this taunt when I've successfully KO'ed my enemy in say Classic Mode (even if Yutaka won't be able to finish it on time!) because it'd just sound that cool in such a situation!
Victory Poses
Whenever Yutaka wins a match with her onee-chan Konata, the entire match is revealed to have been a video game played between them on the Nintendo Wii in Konata's room!
If Konata won the match (most likely outcome), she'll casually turn towards her astounded little cousin, who compliments her with a "You're so good at this game, onee-chan!", to which Konata will reply with a teasing line of "No, you just need to pick a character who isn't as short as you!" that puts Yutaka into a cute little fit of anger. The results screen will then show up, or by pressing start right as it plays if you don't want to watch it and just want to start another match.
If Yutaka happened to win the match, Konata will stare at Yutaka in slight shock before turning to the screen and casually remarking "Even to this day, I'm still baffled at how it's possible for a beginner to beat a pro-gamer just by pressing random buttons..." whilst wiping a drop of sweat from her brow, with Yutaka being too naive and occupied to hear her otaku cousin's meaningful words. It's not like she actually takes fighting games seriously in the first place!
Alt Costume(s)
Yutaka's normal costume is the Sailor Uniform for winter, which is Red Team by default. You can also have the Blue Sailor Uniform for summer if you want the blue team, but whatever you do just don't pick green because there is none! Aside from that one, in reality there are too many alt costumes for Yutaka to count; if I tried to list all of them it'd be reeeeeeally long.
Puella Magi Madoka Magica? How about Puella Magi Yutaka Magica!? This is a special costume that Yutaka will be granted if she (involuntarily) makes a contract with a certain
white-haired stupid cat. No magic or weapons are actually included in the bundle, but dam does it look cute on her or what!? If Yutaka manages to defeat Kyubey in a 1v1 match (which isn't actually impossible or even all that hard in the first place, just spam the Dash Attack!), this costume will be hers to use whenever she wants!
Snake Codec Taunt
:snakebrawl: Otacon, there's a cute little red-haired anime girl wandering around here aimlessly...
Snake, I know about countless anime girls who could fit the vague description you gave me, but if one had to come to mind before any other, it'd definitely be Yutaka Kobayakawa.
:snakebrawl: Lemme guess, she's one of those Puella Magi that's all the rage these days?
Nope.
:snakebrawl: Then I'm guessing she's one of those disabled Katawa Shoujo who can't fight for crap?
Wrong again.
:snakebrawl: Okay then I'm guessing she's just an ordinary girl...
Bingo! Yutaka Kobayakawa is an ordinary girl with no magical abilities whatsoever that people think are impossible to implement in Super Smash Bros Brawl for some crazy reason.
:snakebrawl: But aren't I in this game? I mean, I don't have any magical abilities whatsoever. (though I totally wish I did)
Actually Snake, you have props such as grenades, rocket launchers and landmines which apparently make you the third heaviest character in Brawl for some utterly incoherent reason. That girl over there's got nothing on you.
:snakebrawl: That's nice. Thanks for the vaguely under-detailed advice.
Just be careful Snake. This is Brawl, or should I say Make Your Move, where a character's power level doesn't mean jack unless they're designed exclusively as a Boss Moveset or one of those random overpowered jokesets that have all but died out (thankfully!). Hell, we have ridiculously overpowered as hell characters like Thanos, Yukari Yakumo and Arceus brawling it out on the same level as YOU and Yutaka, which in fact allows you the chance to kick the crap out of them!
:snakebrawl: Actually, it'd be pretty hilarious to see Yutaka beat up someone like that. I'd lol, and probably record it in the process.
I would too Snake, I would too. Just makes sure you don't get your arse kicked by Yutaka.
:snakebrawl: Awww hell no!
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